Shelby continues fight against federal red snapper regs ‘damaging’ south Alabama’s economy

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April 27, 2015

WASHINGTON — Alabama Senator Richard Shelby (R) last week sent a letter to Department of Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker sharing his concern over the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) “mismanagement of the red snapper fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico.”

“Year after year, commercial and recreational anglers have fewer fishing opportunities due to NOAA’s misguided practices regarding red snapper,” said Senator Shelby. “The red snapper fishery is a key economic driver and is integral to the way of life on Alabama’s Gulf Coast. The federal government’s failure to properly oversee red snapper stocks has a damaging impact on fishermen and businesses alike, which is why I will continue to fight for improved management, sounder science, and more accurate data to help commercial and recreational fishermen gain increased access to the robust red snapper population on the Gulf.”

Last year the red snapper season lasted only 9 days, a term Senator Shelby and Mobile-area Congressman Bradley Byrne say was so short because the federal government relies on outdated technology and inefficient means to estimate the number of red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico.

In his letter, Sen. Shelby urged the Secretary to make several reforms to the way NOAA collects data and determines season length.

In the U.S. House, Rep. Byrne is sponsoring the Red Snapper Regulatory Reform Act, which, among other things, would allow public universities, such as the University of South Alabama to use the superior technology they’ve developed to help inform NOAA’s decisions.

“It is clear there is a better way to deal with our Red Snapper fishery, and that means giving more power to the Gulf States to do the data collection and stock assessments,” Rep. Byrne said earlier this month. “State level data continues to be more accurate and more scientific than the data being put forward by Washington-based federal bureaucrats.”

You can read Sen. Shelby’s entire letter to the Secretary of Commerce HERE.